These Things That Scare Us (They Will Bring Us Down)
by Mis Chi Evous
Summary: The most serious of the "Bump" series thus far. The Avengers, particularly the Stark/Potts family come under fire from an unlikely source, as Pepper becomes the target of The (infamous) Winter Soldier. The story of how the Avengers really became a family.
1. Chapter 1

They had a conversation on a Tuesday evening, the night before the world fell apart. Pepper was sitting on the couch, and Tony sat in a chair next to her. They were both, ostensibly, hard at work.

"So what do we do if this child turns out to be a Potts?"

Tony lifted an eyebrow. "I expect that this child _will_ be a Potts, given that you're doing the majority of the lifting. Minus the actual naming of the child, because it may be sexist, but, come on, Pep, you've got to give me _something_ here."

Pepper crossed one very long leg over the other and tried not to contemplate the way her waistband was straining today - sooner or later she'd have to go up a size in pants. She was no walking cliche. She was perfectly in control of her emotions and capable of being rational. But she was also holding on to these pants because... dammit. She liked them.

"No, I mean... you've been talking to JARVIS, making plans..."

"I talk to JARVIS all the time. It's like talking to myself. But with fifty percent more sarcasm. And Google." Tony picked up a Rubik's cube that had been left on the table next to the chair he was currently fidgeting in, and began to put it in order. "Put the cell phone away, Potts, if you want to have an actual conversation with me."

Pepper looked up from her iPhone. "Okay... Pepper."

"Now. What did you actually mean?"

"I just meant - what if this kid's, you know... normal."

"You're making an underlying assumption here that I find troubling," Tony said, "that being that you are normal. And clearly you are not."

"Tony. You know what I mean."

"Actually, I do not," Tony said, "hence, I am expressing confusion."

"We're making all of these plans - talking about what to do if this kid is like you, you know... MIT at 16 and all of that, but... what if..."

"Then we shall all take a moment and thank whatever God smiled down upon us. Potts, honestly," Tony took her hand, "that would be a blessing. The very last thing we want is a child like me."

Pepper sighed. "I just - there's all of these expectations. Already."

"Think that's kind of unavoidable, you know? Even if we were Dick and Jane, living in our suburban house with a white picket fence and a spaniel of some kind, we'd have some kind of expectations for our kids. It's human nature."

"Yeah, but we're not Dick and Jane."

"We're Pepper Potts and Tony Stark, and you and I are the only ones who are allowed to have expectations. Every one else can just suck my..."

"Tony!"

"Serious, Potts. And if you're worried, you know, that I'll only love this kid if it's some twisted reflection of myself..."

"Now you're putting words into my mouth -"

"Then you should know. I love you. And you are... in no way, a reflection of me."

"There are those in the world who would disagree."

Tony waved a hand. "Fuck the world."

Pepper tilted her head to the side and nodded.

* * *

Agent Coulson was having a fairly good day, all things considered. Granted, things had been rough going there for a while, with Fury's deception in the name of team unity straining relations between SHIELD and the Avengers so much so that his role as liaison had been a little... precarious, but bit by bit he'd managed to repair their trust in him, if not the system. Now, he was nearly caught up on paperwork, and knock on wood, there hadn't been any alien invasions or near-takeovers of New York for him to worry about, and although there were always threats being monitored and the status of the security of the free world could change on a dime, he was confident that he would be able to clock out a bit early, go home, turn the ball game and put his feet up.

"Coulson?"

Phil lifted his head. Darcy Lewis had been a good hire, he decided. She was sassy enough to keep him interested, quick enough not to need hand-holding, reacted well in dangerous situations and rolled with the personalities of the Avengers as well or better than anyone else he'd tried in the position of Assistant to the Supervising Agent - a job description Fury had insisted he create when it turned out that supernatural spears in the chest had some long-term side effects.

"What's going on, Ms. Lewis?"

"Something pinged I think you're going to be interested in," she said, stepping into his office and closing the door securely behind her.

Phil hid his sigh. His DVR was nearly full-to-bursting with ball games he'd meant to watch. Hopefully tonight would not be the straw that broke the camel's back. "What is it?"

"Got a hit on one of your watch lists? Alexander Lukin?"

Something cold crept over Phil's spine. "What about him?"

"He's got an employee on a Transatlantic flight. The boys upstairs thought you'd want to know."

"An employee?" Phil snorted. "They have any more information than that?"

"They told me to tell you it's Winter Soldier." Darcy shrugged. "Whatever the hell that means."

"The Winter Soldier. One. Singular. For which we are all grateful." Phil's chest ached and he pressed a hand to it, wincing. "Anything more?"

"They've got reason to believe his primary target is Stark."

Coulson shook his head. "Well. Okay. This day had a lot going for it, in the beginning, I'll have you know."

"Anything I can do to help?"

"I'm going to need a really good bottle of booze."

"To bribe Stark with?"

"No." Phil shook his head. "To drink after I have this conversation with Stark. And Natasha. And Steve. And, you know what? Barton's not going to take it so well either, so..."

"What you're saying, basically, is... Buy All the Booze."

Phil laughed without real mirth. "Yes."

* * *

"Listen, I need you to do me a favor."

Bruce looked up from his work to find Tony standing, legs spread shoulder-width apart, his hands in his pockets. It was as close to humble-looking that Tony ever got.

"What do you need?"

Tony's lips twitched in amusement at Bruce's wary tone. "I can promise you, it's nothing illegal. Or frightening or threatening in any way. In fact, in terms of things I have asked you for in the past, it's fairly banal."

"Tony, if it's within my power..."

"The media's onto us." Tony's hands came out of his pockets to punctuate his words with broad gestures, clasping and unclasping nervously. "Pep's being followed everywhere she goes and I think, you know, it's not going to take much more and they'll have it all figured out."

"And that's not good because you two don't have it all figured out."

"Yes, exactly. And I mean, eventually it'll be obvious, but for now, I just don't want Pepper to feel stalked while she's, you know, getting the baby checked out."

"Wait. Are you asking me to be Pepper's physician?"

"For the time being. You're qualified."

"Only if you use the very loosest..."

"Pep's comfortable with you. And so am I." Tony started to fiddle with the post-it notes on Bruce's desk. "We trust you, Banner."

"I'll have to brush up. I did some prenatal work in Calcutta, out of necessity, but..."

"No pressure. Think about it. Let us know."

"Excuse me. Dr. Banner, sir?"

Tony lifted his head. "Yeah, JARVIS?"

"Agent Coulson is here to see you."

Tony clapped his hands together. "And I'm sure that nothing about that will irritate me in any way, nor by extension you, so come along Bruce."

"No more Doctor Who for you," Bruce said under his breath.

* * *

The conference room Phil met them in was one rarely used. It was specifically designed for the Avengers, and despite the initial high of their meeting, there weren't that many world-ending crises, in general. So Tony was more than a little surprised when he and Bruce were the last ones in the room.

Darcy Lewis sat next to Phil, tapping away on her phone, hopefully in an effort to remove some of the stress from Phil's life. Tony knew enough about injuries to the heart to know that Loki's somehow-not-lethal jab would weaken his friend for a long time to come. Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanov and Clint Barton were all gathered in one corner, speaking in low voices. Pepper and her assistant, Danner, were already sitting in the corner. She was giving him dictation and reading something on her cell phone all at once, but she lifted a hand to wave at him.

"Good." Phil stood up, a bit shakily. "You're all here."

"We seem to be missing one demi-god," Tony said, "but other than that: hey hey, the gang's all here. How did SHIELD break the world this time?"

"We didn't this time," Phil said. "This is a briefing on The Winter Soldier." He ignored Natasha's sharp intake of breath. "This information is need-to-know only."

"The Winter Soldier?" Barton laughed. "He's a myth. The monster under the bed they tell all rookies about so they'll crap their pants."

"It's not," Natasha said flatly."He's not."

"For a while, we've been monitoring a Russian businessman by the name of Alexander Lukin," Phil said. "It appeared that he'd gained control of the asset. Up until now he either hasn't used him, or he's slipped so far under the radar that we haven't noticed..."

Natasha cursed under her breath. In Russian.

"This man is extremely dangerous. Darcy will hand you all out a paperfile. You will have two hours to read the file and retain what information you need to. These files will be destroyed before we all leave this building."

"Why are we being briefed now?"

"Because he's on his way here," Darcy said.

"He might be on the way here." Phil stood up, his hands in his pockets.

"Why?" Natasha's eyebrows drew together. "They used to say it wasn't a good idea to send The Winter Soldier to the States."

"Wait. You know something about this guy?" Tony asked.

"We... knew each other." Natasha's eyes were unfocused. "Once."

"You don't have a picture in here," Steve said.

"We don't know what he looks like. All we know is what he's capable of. And that is ruthless violence. He slips in, he slips out and people are dead and there's no way to trace him. He's a ghost. There's a reason even a man as experienced as Agent Barton was convinced he was a myth," Phil said. "Even some of the higher-ups at SHIELD have long assumed that he had all the validity of a Boogeyman. Some of us knew differently, but as long as he was inactive, it could be assumed that perhaps the problem had taken care of itself."

"So why call in the Avengers? I mean... it sounds like you need a Sherlock Holmes on this guy's trail. We're more apt to fight off aliens or... mad scientists or something," Tony said. "This guy's not exactly our pay grade, if you know what I mean."

Pepper's face had gone white. "Tony, did you read the file?"

"I glanced."

Phil cleared his throat. "We traced Lukin to a terrorist group with ties to Ten Rings, Tony. We've got every reason in the world to suspect The Winter Soldier's primary target is you."

Tony raised his eyebrows. "So we up the security."

"Tony." Pepper shook her head. "You've got to take this seriously."

"We get a million and one security threats every day, Pepper."

"If you'll excuse us," Pepper said, standing up. "Tony, we need to talk."

They walked out of the room. There was a long moment of silence. Steve tapped the table. "So, uh... what's the pool up to about when they tell the rest of us about the baby, now? Cause I'd take even money on any second now, if that's still available..."

* * *

When Tony and Pepper came back in the room some time later, Tony stuck his hands in his pockets. "I've been convinced that we should react to this news with a... reasonable degree of caution. I'll start carrying the suit briefcase everywhere I go."

"And?" Pepper asked.

"Uh. I suppose a few extra SHIELD agents, you know, here and there, won't be completely amiss. Romanov, can I see you privately for a moment?"

"Yes, of course." Natasha and Tony adjourned to a corner and began to speak in low voices.

"I suppose now might, uh... be a good time," Pepper said, clearing her throat, "since you're all here. For us to tell you that uh... Tony and I are expecting a child. In six months' time."

For a long moment, no one said anything.  
**  
**"Well," Agent Coulson said, tapping his hands on his desk, "that certainly changes things. I notice a good number of you aren't particularly... surprised."

No one met his eyes.****


	2. Chapter 2

The meeting quickly broke up, but Tony and Natasha remained in the corner, discussing something in low and strident voices. Pepper gave them a few minutes, and then steeled herself to interrupt.

Pepper really and truly admired Natasha Romanov. She may have been a little dubious about "Natalie's" very brief stint as Tony's personal assistant, she may have been a little nervous, knowing Tony's reputation, initially, but Natasha had taken good care of Tony, she hadn't treated him with kid gloves, and she was truly excellent at kicking ass. Knowing all of this, Pepper only felt slightly anxious about what she'd agreed to do.

She interrupted Tony and Natasha's conversation with a quick touch to Tony's forearm. "Tony? Would you mind going to get me a glass of water?"

"There are half a dozen people here whose sole purpose is to... YOu're glaring at me. That's the shut-up glare, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Ah. Just so we're all aware that I'm aware of your nefarious plan to get me out of the way. Don't start taking off clothes until I get back."

Pepper watched him stride off with an amused smile on her face, which slowly faded as she directed her attention to what she'd planned to do. "Natasha, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind overly if I asked you for a favor."

Pepper had watched Natasha during the briefing, but Natasha's eyes focused on her and seemed clear, unclouded, for the first time.

"I don't make deals without knowing the terms," Natasha said, her eyes sliding away, her arms over her chest.

"I know you've got some experience with this Winter Soldier guy," Pepper said, "and Tony seems to think that since we're not going to be able to keep my condition out of the press for much longer, his attention might shift to me, and since I refuse to spend twenty-four hours a day with him... and I've been taking a few self-defense classes, but..."

"Stark's got reason to worry." Natasha uncrossed her arms and shifted her weight. "If Winter Soldier's primary objective is to wipe out the last of the Starks, then he will be nothing if not a completist. He's very thorough. He's very good... and he's very discreet."

"I know. That's why I was wondering if you wouldn't mind accepting a liaison position with Stark Industries... at least until this all blows over."

Natasha's lips pursed. "However this ends, I can guarantee you it won't blow over, Ms. Potts."

"Pepper, please."

"All right, Pepper." Natasha sighed. "Run it through Coulson and SHIELD. Let them know you have my okay."

"Thanks. There just wasn't anyone else I'd feel comfortable with."

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Most people aren't. Comfortable with me, I mean."

Pepper shrugged. "You have fabulous taste in boots. That goes a long way with me."

Natasha's mouth twitched in amusement. "Fair enough."

* * *

"Sooooo. Potts is preggers."

"Yes."

"Knocked up. Got a bun in the oven."

Coulson was starting to get irritated. "Yes, Darcy, she said as much. I was right there, you were right there."

"And no one said anything. That's the kicker. Everyone knew and no one said anything. We're talking about Tony Stark, man. I don't know very much about him, but I know for a fact he's not the world's best secret keeper. I mean, he's definitely got some Sirius-like qualities with the charm and the questionable sexuality... I don't doubt that he's straight, I'm just saying he could like it both ways and it wouldn't surprise me... but if I were James and Lily I still would have gone the Remus direction, know what I mean? There's a dude who could keep a secret. He walked around as a werewolf for years with only one or two assholes figuring it out."

Coulson blinked. "Darcy... nothing you just said makes any sense."

"You know Captain America mythology front to back but you don't know Harry Potter?" Darcy tsked. "I knew there was something off about you the moment I met you."

"Yes, well, at that time I had a four-inch gash in my chest. That might have been it."

"No, you were giving off dubious-geek vibes. I knew something was off about your street cred, right then. I'm adding Harry Potter to the list."

"The list?"

Darcy sighed, as though this should be perfectly obvious. "The list of things someone should probably expose our favorite popsicle to, but probably wasn't considered important or culturally relevant enough to make whatever list your psycho-babble experts came up with."

"...Captain Rogers?"

"Yes. You're a little slow on the uptake today, Phil. Everything okay?"

"Headache. Bad headache. Which, by the way, you aren't helping."

There was a knock on the door, and Darcy got up to answer it. "Agent Coulson?" Maria Hill stepped in the room. "Just giving you a courtesy head's up. We've lost track of the potential aggressor. We're flying blind here."

Phil waved a hand. "We expected as much. Thanks, Maria."

Maria ignored his dismissal. "Is Stark prepared for what's about to hit him?"

"About as prepared as a man with his ego and a lot to lose possibly can be," Phil said. "We'll do our best to keep an eye on him, but the man's practically a walking tank."

Maria nodded. "Fair enough." She turned on her heel and walked out.

Darcy whistled as she closed the door. "You know, I'm not a judgemental person, normally -" Phil bit back a laugh "- but that woman is a stone-cold Ice Queen bitch if I ever saw one."

Phil shrugged his shoulders. One thing he'd always liked about Darcy was her perceptive nature.

* * *

The mission was of paramount importance. Like a song stuck in his head that wouldn't let go, or a pattern suddenly appearing everywhere where once there was randomness, he couldn't escape the drive to complete it. It surrounded and consumed his every thought, even the ones running underneath the programming, hidden in the backbeat of the music of his thoughts, the ones that whispered he'd been here before, not for a mission, that he'd walked these streets and loved girls and had friends and...

The mission.

Kill Stark.

The mission was the only thing of importance.

The backbeat began to fade.

* * *

Clint appeared in Natasha's doorway, almost without sound. She smiled when she sensed his presence - he'd always been a good agent, and he had, from time to time, bested her, but she knew him well enough to expect him to come.

"Hey, Nat. Don't shoot. I'm coming inside."

"I'll try to resist the urge," Nat said, rolling her eyes. "I'm in the kitchen."

"Are you … cooking?" He looked more than a little horrified by the idea.

"No. I'm making tea," Natasha said, "and doing some packing."

"They're sending you out?" Clint blinked.

"No. I'm going to spend the next couple of days at Stark Industries."

"Tony ask you to keep an eye on Pepper?"

Natasha smirked. "Sometimes you are a darling unconsciously sexist man. No. Pepper, being well aware of her limitations, asked me herself."

"Ah. That's good." Clint crossed his arms. "Listen, Nat, I'm going to ask you for a favor."

"That's a popular choice these days."

"I need you to level with me." Clint cleared his throat. "How do you know The Winter Soldier?"

Natasha bit her lip and carefully arranged her features until they were blank. "I...have not thought much about him in years."

Clint leaned in and looked at her, as though with those piercing eyes of his he could look through her pupils and straight through to her soul. "Bullshit."

Natasha looked away. "He... was very much like me. Wiped. Reset. Over and over and over again. By the time I met him, he could not even remember his true name. We were friends, once."

"How worried about this guy should I be?"

Natasha shrugged. "That depends."

"How worried about you should I be? I've never seen you like this about a person before."

"I will be fine. It is very likely that he is not the person who was my friend anymore. I am not the person who was his friend. We shall both endeavor to do our jobs."

Clint nodded, like she'd given him the final piece to the puzzle he'd been trying to work out. "Then I'm going to Stark with you. Clearly you're not in the right frame of mind to handle this by yourself."

"Fuck you, Barton."

He smiled. "You already have, darling. But I think there's something more here, something more with this Winter Soldier guy and listen, you wouldn't let me deal with something like this alone. You wouldn't let me walk into a situation knowing I'd be compromised every step of the way. Not without some back up."

Natasha looked away.

"You know I'm right."

"Yes, I do."

"Good. So - if you need me, you know where I'll be."

"Just above me. Just out of sight."

Clint grinned. "Exactly, babydoll."

Natasha rolled her eyes.

* * *

"Well... today sucked."

Pepper's lips curved in amusement as the door to their master bedroom closed behind Tony. "I will allow that we have had better days."

"People wanting to kill me... that's nothing new," Tony said, whipping his t-shirt off to expose his bare chest to the bedroom. Instantly, everything took on a slightly blue tinge. She was growing to need that hue to sleep.

"I can't say that's something I like to think about," Pepper said softly, taking a cloth to her eyes to gently remove her makeup.

"No - but it's a fact," Tony said, "the thing that's new and different and exciting about this little conundrum is that you're going to be a target too."

"Are you about to say something that will offend my Brown sensibilities?"

"Wouldn't dream of it, Potts."

Pepper laughed. "Yes, you would."

A quiet knock interrupted their routine.

"That's odd," Tony said. "JARVIS, who's at the door?"

"Dr. Banner, sir," JARVIS replied dutifully.

"Come on in, Bruce!"

"Tony, I'm practically naked in here," Pepper hissed.

Tony looked confused. "You've got a robe on. I've seen you in shorts that cover less."

"Not acceptable. You go talk to your friend out there, but get me a shirt, Tony. And some pants."

"You're very demanding today. Is that one of the symptoms of pregnancy? Increased demanding...ness?" Tony called as he searched through the drawers from something appropriate in Pepper's proprietary scale. Bruce opened the door and stepped inside. Tony gestured to the master suite's sitting area.

"Oh dear God, Tony, you've got an IQ of like 204 or something ridiculous, use a real word," Pepper snapped, her hand appearing out of the bathroom door. "And give me my pants."

Tony handed her one of his old MIT shirts and a pair of his boxers (part of the benefit of having a long-term girlfriend was getting to see her lounge around in all of his stuff) and joined Bruce at the table.

"What's up, buddy?"

"I'd like to do a brief check-up, if that's all right." Bruce shrugged. "It was a long and stressful day, and with older women and pregnancy..."

"Excuse me," Pepper said, her expression playfully upset.

"In terms of life, you are definitely not old. In terms of child-bearing..."

"Oh God. I'm in my mid-thirties. It's not like I'm fifty year old gestating twins or something," Pepper said under her breath.

"I'd also like to draw some blood and get started on all of that as quickly as possible," Bruce continued, acknowledging Pepper's teasing with a smile. "I hate to bother you at this hour, but JARVIS just informed me that you were both home."

"That's because we both just arrived," Pepper said, as Bruce began to strap on a blood-pressure machine to get a reading.

"I know that curbing your work hours may not seem very practical, but can I suggest that you are already under a lot of pressure, and with today's information come to light, it might be something you should consider? Stress and pregnancy are not good bedfellows. It's not generally a good thing when you're just getting home from work at..." Bruce checked his watch. "11:15 p.m."

Tony looked a little abashed. "So, she should be working a straight 9-5 then?"

"I didn't say that. Pepper should work as much as she feels comfortable working... within reasonable limits. Just... be sensible." Bruce put his blood pressure machine away. "Particularly since your blood pressure is a little high. I'm not too worried... yet. We'll continue to monitor it as closely as possible, though. There may be a chance that we might have to take some more formal steps to correct it, if this continues. Also, I want to set-up an ultrasound."

Pepper reached for Tony's hand. "Are we going to be able to tell... anything?"

"You're what? 8 weeks along? Almost 9?"

"Yes."

"Probably not sex at this point. But you'll get a good picture of a little human being, particularly with SI's superior technologies. I just want to take a peek because I want to be sure the radiation from the arc reactor isn't affecting the fetus in any way. We know the radiation it puts out does nothing to harm adults, but we've got no data on fetuses."

Tony nodded, his eyes carefully blank.

"Tony." Bruce was quietly insistent. "I'm practicing an overabundance of caution here. And I'm being as honest as possible. I've got no reason to suspect... anything. I'm just... looking."

Tony nodded.

Bruce left the room a little more sedate than he'd entered it.

Tony and Pepper fell asleep holding hands, the arc reactor glowing between them.


End file.
